PAUL JAMES was full of praise for the way his Thames Valley Tigers side responded to his call for strengthening the team's defence.

PAUL JAMES was full of praise for the way his Thames Valley Tigers side responded to his call for strengthening the team's defence.

Tigers' impressive 103-86 win over Newcastle Eagles on Saturday night was built on a big improvement in the team's rebounding.

Tony Holley led the way with 13 rebounds while Brendan Graves had seven and Greg Meldrum six.

And James said: "If they can do that night in, night out then we will be in with a good chance of winning.

"It was always going to be about the defence against Newcastle.

"Although we established a big lead early on, we needed our defence to be tight when they made their run.

"And Tony, in particular, did a great job in the final quarter pulling down some great rebounds."

Holley went on the club's website to shoulder the blame after Tigers lost a tight game at home to Milton Keynes Lions recently.

Dismissing suggestions that the last-gasp defeat was down to a bad pass by Brendan Graves, an ill-advised intentional foul by Michael Nurse or poor refereeing decisions, he said: "We played little or no defence for about 25 minutes of that game.

"We are all to blame but if you want to blame someone then blame me for the simple fact that when I come into the game that's where I'm paid to change the game and it didn't happen fast enough."

But James said: "That's typical of Tony to stand up and take the pressure off some of the younger guys.

"But we can't blame him or any one person for our defeats by Milton Keynes and London Towers.

"He has picked his game up, though. If Tony comes off the bench and, with the limited court time he gets, weighs in with 10 rebounds and 10 points then that is his job done."

James added: "I am pretty pleased with where we are now at this stage of the season. We just have to make sure in future games we don't allow our opponents to get 90-plus points."